Death row inmate gets another 18 years in prison

MEMPHIS — A Tennessee death row inmate has been given an additional 18 years in prison on charges connected with the dismemberment death he was convicted in.

James Hawkins was sentenced on Tuesday in Memphis to 12 years for filing a false missing persons report and 6 years for abuse of a corpse, according to The Commercial Appeal.

The 34-year-old Hawkins was convicted in June in the February 2009 stabbing, strangulation and dismemberment of Charlene Gaither.

According to court testimony, Hawkins made his 12-year-old daughter help dismember Gaither’s body with an electric circular saw and dispose of the body parts in DeSoto County, Miss. Gaither’s head has not been found.

Hawkins also faces prosecution on a child rape charge. No trial date has been set.